1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to software and mobile devices. More specifically, it relates to securing, governing, and managing apps on devices, such as handsets, televisions, automobiles, and other emerging smart device categories.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is now known in the computing and mobile handset and smartphone industries, a new computing paradigm is emerging and is being driven by the proliferation of software applications now commonly known as apps for handheld or mobile devices. This proliferation is directly tied to consumer adoption of smartphones and tablets. Enterprises are now creating their own unique apps and distributing them to employees, customers, and partners. Companies are now writing their own apps for their employees and partners to use. However, with this growth another problem is arising, namely, the security and management of these apps on handset devices. Apps can cause significant damage to a handheld device and can cause loss of data or unintended transmission of data. They pose vulnerabilities for the device and a security risk for the user.
Given the volume of apps being developed and downloaded (measuring in the millions or billions over a period of years), performing operations to enable security for mobile devices, such as locating relevant or correct classes and substituting different classes, can become very inefficient when they have to be done to a very high number of apps and mobile devices. The same substitution or injection of classes is done for all copies of the same apps, regardless of the specific needs of the user. This class substitution for each copy of the same app would take a significant amount of processing and power. It would be desirable to facilitate the process of security wrapping the app and make the process more efficient.